Surgical scalpels are a class of knives which are manufactured in accordance with particular stringent standards, in order to assure their quality and precision of handling. It goes without saying that the blade of the knife should be sharp and of fine quality, but the entire instrument should be of such a weight and size as to fit well and be comfortable within the hand of the surgeon. In addition, it should normally be well-balanced, be capable of precise manipulation, and it should be small enough so as not to obstruct the surgeon's view of the blade while in use.
In the sometimes harried atmosphere of an operating room, a surgeon must often work quickly, handing instruments back and forth to assistants. With sharp implements, such as scalpels, the danger of accidental cutting or jabbing of operating room personnel is ever present. The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act passed by the United States Congress and signed into law on Nov. 6, 2000 addresses these hazards and provides the needed momentum to advance the design of commonly used but potentially injurious instruments. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that health care workers sustain more than 600,000 injuries each year through the utilization of sharp implements. Furthermore, certain infections, such as the AIDS virus can be transferred to individuals through minor cuts, when even small quantities of blood are mixed.
Previous attempts to guard against inadvertent cuts or punctures led to the development of retractable blade guards. Some of the earliest versions were simply retractable bladed knives used in various industries outside the medical field. These blade guards generally required two hands to operate, i.e., one hand to manipulate the blade and a second hand to secure the blade guard for instance, by turning a threaded screw. Although such a blade guard could be used effectively prior to starting and after completing a surgical procedure, the guard could normally not be used and would be of no value during the procedure itself. Furthermore, even if the surgeon were able to use both hands, the scalpel would be unacceptable because the surgeon's attention is distracted from the procedure whenever handling the scalpel. In addition, the surgeon risks injuring oneself with the scalpel every time he needs to bring his second hand into use. Thus, this type of scalpel would be used in the open position during an entire surgical procedure and, for all intents and purposes, the blade guard is unavailable during the procedure.
Other prior art devices are shown to have spring loaded moving parts or tabs that clipped into notches on a hollow tubed sheathing device. These devices were not practical for surgical use because they did not provide a good grip or “feel” for the blade.
Based on the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide an improved shielded scalpel readily adaptable for use during a variety of surgical procedures in a standard operating room and which overcomes at least one of the problems identified in the prior art shielded scalpels.